flowers and fauna Sweden

Hubby always rolls his eyes when I take pictures of flowers but he wasn't on this trip so I clicked and clicked some more. I always remind him they are a cheap souvenir. I had never seen a hedgehog in the wild they are not very fast.  Ann

on the needles from Sweden

I was nudged into knitting lovikka mittens and now I'm on my 3rd pair. Our Swedish exchange student was here in May, she taught me and another gal how to knit the mitts. We didn't have the right yarn or needles. I had four size 8  needles the other gal didn't have any and being a holiday weekend in a small town there were none to be had so her dad  cut some dowels to length and ground the ends to nice points and cut one for me. After my practice pair  I ordered lovikka yarn from an etsy shop and knit the green pair with the needles I had.

Buying Swedish knitting needles and lovikka yarn was at the top of my shopping list in Sweden. See what a difference the right size needles makes and maybe learning to relax when I'm knitting. 5 mm are just a hair larger than size 8. link to Judy at Patchworktimes  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/08/03/on-the-needles-august-3-2012/

The bottom row is all lovikka yarn. They had 3 ring binders full of patterns. It was as much fun as a fabric store but I refrained from buying more, I need to catch my skills up with my ambitions.

This gal was at Skansen, the folk park, she was spinning yarn with a drop spindle, she also had knitting needles in the basket made from sticks--tree branches with the bark scraped off and points whittled.

My yarn and needles from Sweden. A couple very special people might get mittens for Christmas and the way I'm going they may be done before the first snow.  Ann

things that caught my eye

Things I saw when looking down or looking up. The stone that looks like a grave marker is a mile marker. The button and trim store. The fishing store, all those pretty fishing lures, the colors, the repetition. I did get hubby dearest a Swedish Pimple fishing lure and another lure because I liked the colors. --Ann--

old buildings and fences Sweden

Uppsala Cathedral began building in 1287, 118 meters tall that's more than a football field is long. There are buttresses supporting the buttresses supporting the gothic arch inside.

  The interior was exquisite, it made me feel very small and humble.  Uppsala was the center of pagan religions before Christianity was accepted.

 Skansen folk park: Sami camp of the far north.

Thatched roof buildings used to house livestock.

 Stone fences have always fascinated me, they used a rock to big to move as the base then alternated flat rocks with round stones. How many times did they handle each stone before they placed it? It is a dry stone fence because no mortar was used. I like the repetition and uniformity of the round stone and the gradation to smaller stones in a row. I like the contrast of the flat stones and the paths they make along the wall. I like the surprise of the larger stones in the wall and the nobody is going to move me attitude of the large stones on the top row.

Someone's dear husband hauled these flat stones so his dear wife had steps into the house and a cleaner floor.  The door is short and the ceilings are low not because people were shorter back then but to conserve on lumber. But then they used all this lumber for rail fences.?!?

I thought the rail fence was interesting too. The diagonal lines of the long logs are very peaceful, there are 7 vertical between the high point and the low point for each rail.  It has a very pleasant rhythm as it moves along the lane. No nails or screws or wires holding it together.

Store room for food--it was dug 2-3 feet below ground level cool enough for butter, cheese, eggs and berries.

Water heater,  and the oven behind which opened from the left end, chimney and fireplace in the room through the door, centrally located to heat the entire house. Notice the damper on the chimney below. Did they crawl on the roof to open and close the damper?

Another house from another part of Sweden probably the north because of the red color.  The red is a stain and a bi-product of copper mining so when it needs a fresh coat they just sweep the cobwebs and dirt off and apply another coat of stain no scraping!

Another rune stone. What do you suppose it says around the edge? What inspired that creature, there is an eye and and ear then a long neck and an arm with 2 fingers then the message and the tail intertwined with all the white loops which might be snakes, they have spade shaped heads and some have eyes. What does it all mean?

 Gamla Stan (old town) in Stockholm I just love the colors of the buildings. That is a cannon ball in the corner of the building and has been there for a couple centuries.
Ann

Walkways and corridors--Sweden

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Impressions of Sweden: 1. Everyone speaks American English, they might have learned from watching American television and movies with Swedish subtitles.  2. Everyone walks or bicycles.
3. Most everyone is slim and trim. 4. There are cut stone sidewalks and streets everywhere. 5. Public restrooms are hard to find. 6. The stucco and brick are warm wonderful colors. 7.Stay out of the way of bicycles. 8.There are lots of really old buildings with lots of character. 9.There are really neat places to walk.  10. Do those steps get narrower or is it an optical illusion?
photos 1 and 2 old town Stockholm, 3 and 4 Fyris River in Uppsala note all the racks to hold bicycles, 5 cut stone walk, 6 and 7 Skansen folk park walk with trees arched over the path, wooden shoes, 8, 9, 10, old town Uppsala, 11, old town Stockholm, 12, me in the cap, a guy in a store of middle eastern decent, told me I reminded him of a movie star then he said I looked like someone from Little House on the Prairie, he said that was his favorite show growing up, I laughed and said I only live 80 miles from DeSmet where Laura lived and said our landscape looks nothing like the tv show. 13 it does get narrower at the top of the stairs.  Ann